I hadn’t been able to hit the gym for nearly 5 months due to a fracture of my right arm and surgery in December last year, so I gained about 8kg. As my family’s made up with an adjective “Debby” (=overweighted in Japanese) , I have reached the highest level: “Debbiest”, so I spoke with my wife and started “Optimum Fasting” for 5 days from last Tuesday.

Optimum Fasting is a fasting that uses a special drink that combines protein, soy milk, and sweet sake. It is a diet method that allows one to lose fat while maintaining muscle mass. It seems that it was originally 4 days including the preparation period and the recovery period, but I extended it to 5 days. The schedule looked like this.

It was particularly tough on the 2nd night and the third day, probably because I should have drunk 2L of water every day but couldn’t drink that much, which made me have migraines and physical neglect. This is called a turnaround reaction, and there are four stages.
Stage 1: Relaxation reaction
Various symptoms appear when toxins and waste products excreted from organs and cells are carried throughout the body through the bloodstream. Symptoms include fatigue, intense drowsiness, and fever.

Stage 2: Hypersensitivity reaction
The time when acute symptoms occur when the body’s weakened functions awaken due to the excretion of waste products and metabolites. Symptoms may be exacerbated by returning from the chronic phase to the acute phase. Symptoms include pain, itching, inflammation, constipation, diarrhea, etc.

Stage 3: Excretion reaction
The time when the excretory function is activated due to the excretion of waste products. Various detoxifications are performed, and excretion of waste products from the skin and blood becomes active. Symptoms include pimples, rashes, rheumatism, increased urine output, and changes in urine odor.

Stage 4: Recovery reaction
The time when the stagnation of blood flow is improved and blood flow begins to circulate throughout the body. By promoting blood flow, metabolism increases, and systemic functions and cells recover. Symptoms include fever, headache, nausea and palpitation.

After 5 days, I lost about 4kg and my body and head were refreshed! The 2nd and 3rd days were really tough, but now I don’t feel want to eat my favorite sweets, and I feel more thankful and delicious for the meal! I will continue my special drink life at night for a while, and I would like to do the second one in September. If you feel “Debbiest”, please try it!

Masaki “Mark” Iino
Founder & CEO
SOPHOLA, Inc